LA. Day 5. Happy Birthday?
So nice to wake up to a cold cloudy day! I’m pretty sure this entire week was colder in LA than NY.
We headed to breakfast and sat outside looking out at the clouds and ocean. They had heaters out, so it was actually nice outside. The buffet was fantastic – they had an omelet bar with an amazing selection of stuff to put inside, plus waffles, pancakes, French toast, tons of fruits, breads, cheeses, cereals, and on and on.
After breakfast we left Hallie with the Kaplans and headed to the spa for our couples massage. We split up and each got taken to the ladies and mens spa that had a steam room, sauna, showers, bathrooms, and hot tub. There wasn’t time before, but we’d go afterward. We came back together for the massages, which were great, except I really had to pee the last 10 minutes or so. We went back to use the facilities after the massage. There was a huge hot tub in the middle of an open area. I’m never sure if you’re supposed to be naked or not in these things. Anyway, I was sitting in just a towel with my feet in the hot tub and another woman just walked in naked. Well, since nudity is one of those things best enjoyed as a group… It was very relaxing!
We spent the afternoon in town, walking up and down State Street, the main street in Santa Barbara. It’s what you’d expect. Random stores. Food. We got tuna sandwiches and then had ice cream at McConnell’s a famous old ice cream shop. Before leaving we ran to get cupcakes at a place we heard about called CrushCakes. They were closing at 4:00 and it was 3:55, so we called and ask them to set one aside. When we got there we found out it was cream cheese frosting, but at that point we had to buy it. The tiny bit of non-cream cheese I ate was tasty.
When we got back to the hotel Hallie and Tzvi went to the pool and I went to the gym. Tzvi’s parents relaxed.
For dinner we ate at Angel Oak, the nice restaurant at the resort. Dinner had a rough start. They had recently changed their menu, so what we saw online was no longer accurate and there was no salmon, and actually nothing for Hallie to eat. We started by just ordering her lots of vegetables that she didn’t really eat. Then the manager came over to see how we were doing, and it turned out he was from Long Island. We bonded, and he said he would track down a piece of salmon from somewhere else at the hotel. Thank God. Hallie ate the whole thing.
After that things went pretty well. We started with cocktails. We had a great table next to a window overlooking the ocean and we watched the sun set. Tzvi had a salmon and tuna ceviche appetizer and Mark had a Caesar salad. I ate some croutons. For our mains, all four of us got the ahi tuna, which was delicious. For dessert, we told them it was Mark and Sherry’s birthdays so they put candles in their desserts (and gave them to us for free). Mark’s birthday was in March; we had told him we were bringing him up here for his birthday, but when the candles came he was very confused. We also shared baked Alaska, which was pretty good and a bit of a show as they lit it on fire at the table.
LA. Day 4. Dessert to go to stay.
Today, Tzvi’s parents and family friends Larry and Lynn Martinek, came for breakfast at the hotel. Larry is the founder of Mathnasium, an after-school math learning center; if you haven’t heard of it there are centers all over the world, including on Central Avenue near Crawfords. Nice to catch up with them.
After breakfast we decided to take a walk on Rodeo drive, except about 3 minutes after leaving the hotel, Hallie had a meltdown when I didn’t hold her hand crossing the street. It lasted about 35 minutes, almost the entire walk, so that was fun. At one point she was just running up and down Beverly Drive barefoot and tantruming. And then she tried to climb into my jeans. Don’t even ask.
After that whole ordeal we went back to the hotel, packed up, got on the road and headed to Santa Barbara for our vacation from vacation? Hallie slept the whole way, which was fantastic. It took us about 2 hours to get there.
Our hotel in Santa Barbara is the Ritz Carlton Baccara, and it’s actually about 15 minutes north of Santa Barbara in Goletta. We got there before Tzvi’s parents, checked in and went to the room. The resort is huge and made up of about a dozen different buildings with the rooms are all spread around in different villas. They use golf carts to take you around – you can call anytime, anywhere for a ride. Our room is very nice. I don’t know how else to describe it except for kind of “campy,” or maybe a 5 star camp? I guess it’s just Santa Barbara Spanish architecture – lots of tile and white.
We changed into bathing suits and went to the pool because it was so nice out. We ordered some chips and guac, I got tofu and avocado and Tzvi had fish tacos. Obviously we got cocktails too. Hallie loved the pool and also discovered the hot tub, her new favorite. We started by only letting her put her feet it, but then she just sat down on the steps. Hope she doesn’t get any infections.
We had dinner at a place in town called Benchmark Eatery. Dinner was good, and then we ordered dessert. Then once we finished dessert, Mark ordered another dessert. He asked for the candied pistachios to go (for Hallie’s sake), but they brought the entire dessert to go. So he unpacked the entire thing and ate it there.
We have connecting rooms, so after we got Hallie to bed, Tzvi and I went up to the bar and ordered a Kahlua and cream. We sat outside by a fireplace. It was a little chilly but overall very nice out.
LA. Day 3. There's a snake in my boot.
Disneyland day! In planning this trip, Tzvi made very clear that he wasn’t up for all day exhausting Disney trip (i.e., a real Disney day), so we were only allowed to go to California Adventure so as not to exhaust ourselves too much.
After we woke up (alone), we had a leisurely breakfast at Jean Georges (where Tzvi ate all of the jam), and then Ubered to the Kaplans. We didn’t actually tell Hallie where we were going, just that we were going somewhere special for a surprise. We brought Sherry with us and drove in the Kaplans Mazda CX-3 which is basically a toy car and I think has no shock absorbers. Hallie and I sat in the back and it was rough.
When we got to the parking lot, Hallie saw Mickey and Minnie everywhere, but still didn’t really get it. She was super excited to ride the tram though. We’re not sure if it was because she remembered the tram and associated it with Disney, or just because it was fun. Once we got into the park, she still didn’t really get where we were. We told her we were at Disney and she just kind of said “Oh.”
The park was great. Hallie met Woody and Buzz so she was beyond thrilled. They both gave her Toy Story bow a kiss and she didn’t stop talking about it all day. Then Hallie got a talking Woody doll, and then that didn’t stop talking all day. Tzvi and I were able to go on the Incredicoaster (the old California Screamin’ roller coaster) and Guardians of the Galaxy (the old Twilight Zone Tower of Terror) while Sherry watched Hallie.
The original plan was to leave by 4 and go to the Mickey pop up exhibition in Downtown Disney. Somehow we didn’t leave the park until 5:45. We did some shopping and then ate dinner at Naples 45, an Italian place. Hallie was going nuts. She unwrapped 6 butter packs, put them on the table, and ‘played piano.’ It was creative and super gross.
For dessert we got a milkshake from Black Tap, which just opened in Downtown Disney. It was great. We left around 8:30.
Good day.
LA. Day 2. I'm Fine Now.
Jetlagged, we woke up at 5 AM. I exercised in the bathroom and Tzvi watched the series finale of Game of Thrones.
Today was my “work” day, because I don’t even have enough vacation days. It’s okay though. I went down to the restaurant with Tzvi and Hallie (I took to go (which means I was able to get peanut butter) and they stayed and had breakfast). I met up with Daniel, one of my managers (we don’t come here to make friends), and he took me to the LA JNF office. Gotta say, glad I work at Rockville Centre. LA has much better snacks though. He took me to a Kosher place for lunch which was pretty good. We then worked at the Nespresso store in Beverly Hills where we paid 16 dollars for a coffee and a milkshake. Good day. Thanks Daniel.
Tzvi: After Steph left, I took Hallie to my parents new apartment, which was like a miniaturized version of their house – somehow they managed to take all of the stuff that was in their house and fit every single little thing into a two bedroom apartment. Even the Tissue box I painted at a ceramic painting store in fifth grade is in the guest bathroom. It’s nice that everything found a home after the move. After arriving Hallie spent about an hour freaking out over my parents dog Margie, cried, wanted to leave, then came back, fed Margie pretzels and said “I’m fine now.” Then my mother and her friend Netty took Hallie to the Grove for lunch and I took my father to Beverly Hills.
We had lunch at a place called Sugarfish, which had the freshest most melt-in-your mouth sushi I’ve ever had. Then we went to a store called Med Men, a marijuana store. Their slogan is “welcome to the new normal,” and it basically looked like the Apple store. There’s just no edge to the industry anymore. My father bought a bunch of things. I looked at the edibles, but everything was processed with peanuts. Aw shucks. After the pot store we went back to the Waldorf and had coffee on the roof. The rooftop restaurant is also Jean Georges and lots of Beverly Hills types and tourists hang out there. There were lots of half naked women doing instagram photo shoots, and one group even asked me to take a picture for them, which I subsequently found on instragram.
Steph: After I got back I met Tzvi at the pool and we spent a few minutes in the Jacuzzi. Then we dropped off Hallie’s stuff at the Kaplans so Hallie could spend the night sleeping there, and then we went on our way! Wahoo night out! We had the house car, a Rolls Royce Phantom, drive us to dinner at Avra in Beverly Hills.I think we tipped as much as an Uber would have been, but it was still cool. The car was great – there were lights in the ceiling.
Dinner was tasty and the place was packed – Beverly Hills on a Monday night. I think the most surprising thing was the Spanikopita, a side dish of spinach and rice (very Greek I guess), which looked disgusting but tasted amazing.
After that we went back to the hotel and went to sleep. Good night.
LA. Day 1. One Adult, Two Children, Two Grandparents, One Leg.
Our adventure began on Sunday morning with our flight to Los Angeles.
If you’ve ever flown with a child that didn’t stop whining and complaining the entire flight, then you know what I went through with Tzvi. We got to the gate late (because Hallie was eating her yogurt) and we were basically the last one’s on board. The whole time getting on the plane Tzvi was having a fit and saying he “didn’t know what he was going to do” if they told us we had to check our carry ons. Well, as soon as we got on the plane the stewardess looked at us and said we needed to check all three of our carry on bags. Tzvi started having a fit and saying that wasn’t going to work. Well, surprise surprise, we went to our seats and found space right overhead. Tzvi then apologized to the woman. Hallie was a little bit annoying on the flight and refused to sleep, but Tzvi was more annoying as he complained about Hallie’s annoyingness. At least we had extra legroom seats on Jet Blue.
We got to LA around 2:00 PM and checked into the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills. The hotel is only a couple of years old and is beautiful, decorated opulently with lots of gold and white marble and florals. Our room was very nice and spacious, with a shower and a nice bathtub. When we got there a plate of desserts was waiting for Hallie, which was nice. We ordered some quick room service because we were starving. All of the food here is from Jean Georges, and everything we ate was delicious. We had breakfast all three days at the main Jean Georges restaurant. Tzvi went crazy for the apricot jam. I don’t know why, it was just apricot jam, but Tzvi ate several of them and said it was the best he’s ever had. I should also mention that the service at the Waldorf was really great, and they gave Hallie a kids bathrobe and slippers, which was super cute and something we rarely see at hotels. Oh! And the in-room hairdryer is the $400 Dyson hairdryer. Only in Beverly Hills.
On Sunday night we met the Kaplans for dinner at a place called Jon and Vinny’s. Apparently it’s some trendy Italian place. The food was good but so salty. We basically just ate bread – two different bruschettas, two different pizzas, and two pastas. Yay carbs!
The restaurant was pretty small and we didn’t have a ton of space, and thus began the saga of Mark’s leg. Mark has had 1,000 surgeries on his leg in the past 3 months. Ok, he’s only had three surgeries. He’s doing great but has to keep his leg up everywhere he goes. That means that every time we went out to eat, we needed a table for 6 – five people plus one leg. Also, every time he and Tzvi got into an Uber, Tzvi had to sit in the front seat so Mark could lay across the back with his leg elevated. Tzvi said it looked like his father was trying to use Uber to make a getaway after a robbery.
Anyway, good first day.
Paris. Day 3. Au Revoir Vacances.
Another day, another rough night. It’s all a blur, but I think Tzvi slept in Hallie’s bed for several hours. We eventually got up and made it downstairs around 10 and had breakfast in the hotel again.
After breakfast we took an Uber back to the Marais, back to the store where I bought my coat, and had the tag removed. Then we made a stop at the Happy Socks store, where we all bought matching socks and Hallie had a meltdown, eventually laying down in the middle of the store.
From there we walked to Poilane, the best bread bakery in Paris. When we decided to do a two-day stopover in Paris, I said I really don’t care what we do as long as we make it to Poilane. Thank God we made it there. It was glorious. I wanted to buy all of the bread, but I settled for half a loaf. And a chocolate croissant. And a tote bag. And a pillow that looks like a loaf of bread.
After that we walked a couple of blocks to Jacques Genin, where I bought a few caramels. I think I got regular, raspberry, passion fruit and chocolate. I ate them on the plane. Then we Ubered back to the hotel, finished packing and vacated our room by our 1 pm late check-out time.
Once we were out, we walked a block to Bagels and Cream, because it had been a couple of days since Hallie had a bagel with cream cheese. I didn’t get anything, but Tzvi had the Natalie Portman (toasted poppy seed bagel with mayo, Swiss cheese, tomatoes, avocado and arugula). It wasn’t clear whether they named the sandwich after her because they were fond of her, or because she had been there and ordered that. In any event, he said it was really good. The French can really bake bread, even if it’s bagels. Hallie ate a few bites of a bagel with cream cheese.
We then walked a few blocks to Fauchon, a pastry shop and grocer that’s been around since the 1800s. I think we were at the original location, but its definitely been remodeled and kind of looked like a Sephora mixed with a Victoria’s Secret. Interesting that a lot of things in Paris have been kept to look traditional, as if nothing has changed in 200 years, except for this place. We bought éclairs and some chocolates.
We walked back to the hotel, got ourselves together, had coffee in the lobby, and then made our way to the airport.
someone’s sad that vacation is over
The ride was a little under an hour and we had a very pleasant check-in process. Because of our Sky Priority we went to a special area that felt like we were checking into a hotel. While Tzvi dealt with the bags, I changed my pants – not in a bathroom, just in the middle of all of our luggage. Then we went through passports, security, bought Hallie a giant chocolate coin, and that was it.
The flight home was a lot smoother than our last couple of flights. Hallie did pretty well and slept a little. I think the service was better than the Air France service from JFK to Paris, but the food wasn’t great. They served the same seabass that Tzvi had on the Paris to TLV flight, and it was still pretty gross. They actually didn’t have enough kosher meals for all of us, but that was okay. I ate my loaf of bread.
What a crazy couple of weeks.
Paris. Day 2. Owen Wilson on a Bicycle.
Hallie woke up at 2 in the morning calling out lines from Toy Story. She was still very fevered so we took her temperature which resulted in quite a bit of screaming and a stunning temperature of 104o – and we didn’t even wait until it beeped so who knows what it really was. I called Hallie’s pediatrician, who didn’t give much advice, and we gave more meds and then she fell asleep in our bed and actually slept until 7 AM.
My parents left for their driving tour of the city at 9:30. We were all supposed to be on the tour, but with Hallie sick we just couldn’t do it, so they went alone with the tour guide and a driver in an eight-passenger van. We stayed in the hotel and went to the lobby café, Café M, for breakfast. We got cappuccinos, which came half filled in very large cups, eggs, fruits, pastries, bread, jams, cereals, juices, and other stuff. It was pretty solid. Hallie had some yogurt and fruit and then the waitress brought her a snow globe.
We spent a good part of the morning trying to find a pediatrician to take Hallie to and eventually found out that the hotel could call a pediatrician to make a house call. Around 11:30 AM, Doctor Olivier, a kindly older French doctor with a leather doctor’s bag and grey hair (pretty much exactly what you would expect if you called a doctor to make a house call in Paris) came to our room. He checked Hallie’s ears, throat, temperature, etc., and said everything looked fine and there were no signs of any bacterial infections. Great.
Around noon, the driver who had taken my parents in the morning came back to the hotel and picked us up. We then drove to get my parents and their guide at the Louvre (they did a quick trip to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo), and then drove to the Marais (the old Jewish neighborhood). We walked the Rue de Rosiers (the Jewish street) and had lunch at L’as du Falafel, which is kosher and widely regarded as the best falafel in Paris (the NY Times called it the best in all of Europe). Tzvi and I had been there before. It’s very good. While waiting on line we saw Owen Wilson ride by on a bicycle.
Around 2:15 we met Flora Goldenberg, our guide for the rest of the afternoon. Flora grew up in the Marais and still lives there. Her family owned the famous kosher Jo Goldenberg Restaurant that was bombed in the 1970s. She took us around the Marais and showed us some significant sites and gave us the history of the area. Basically, in the 17th Century, during the French Revolution, there were a lot of empty mansions in the Marais that had been abandoned by the French aristocrats that had to flee or were killed. The Jews took all of those mansions because it was cheap and over time the area became populated mostly by Jews.
We started our tour outside of a school that had been built specifically for Jews. Outside the school was a plaque that said it was dedicated to the 260 children who had been taken to Germany by the Nazis. Flora explained that the plaque is incorrect because everyone knows they were taken to camps in Poland, but the French put up the plaque as if to say, ‘we really didn’t know what was going on.’ She said they wanted to correct it, so they renamed the street and put up a second sign, but left the original as a testament to the French mentality toward the Nazis.
In the 30s, while Jews were fleeing other European countries, a lot of Jews went to France because they thought it would be safe there. During WWII the French government cooperated with the Nazis and deported about a quarter of the Jews in Paris; the other 75% were able to hide with the help of the French. A lot of the shops in the Marais were either closed or operated by non-Jews, but after WWII the Jews came back and took their shops back. We went to one pastry shop that had been there since the 1880s, but was run by non-Jews during WWII.
We also visited a synagogue that is still in operation and is kind of hidden inside a building. Flora explained that when the Jews first settled in the Marais they built synagogues inside apartment buildings instead of building grand buildings, because they thought it would be temporary. The aron was a walk-in aron, possibly because it was originally a walk-in closet. During WWII the shuls were just turned into apartments, the torahs were hidden, and then after WWII they were turned back into shuls.
It was all very interesting, but a bit tough walking around given that it was raining. We made a stop along the way at Pierre Herme, another pastry shop, where we got really delicious macarons.
Around 4 o’clock we left my parents and Flora. They were going to the holocaust museum, which we had done before, and Hallie, who had just woken up, wouldn’t make it through a museum. We walked around the Marais for a bit. Tzvi contemplated a straw panama hat, Hallie lost a shoe, I did some shopping in a store called Les Petits (where Hallie also stunk up the clearly employees only bathroom that the saleswoman let us use), we found Hallie’s shoe sitting on a short wall on a street we had been down 45 minutes earlier, and then Ubered back to the hotel.
Hallie was doing okay and we were all hungry, so we decided we should go out to dinner. We asked the concierge for a recommendation within walking distance nd suitable for a 3 year old. She gave us the name of a restaurant called Market. Tzvi looked it up online and found that it was a Jean Georges restaurant. His first inclination was that the concierge was crazy, Parisian and completely lacking understanding of 3 year olds, but then he looked at the menu and found that they had pizza and plain grilled salmon, which was actually perfect.
Before leaving for dinner, I discovered that my new coat still had the security tag on it, so Tzvi quickly Googled the store to see where the closest one was. Google maps said 13 minutes, so we decided to walk it before dinner. When we got there, we discovered that it was a department store, and after about 10 minutes of walking around we found that they no longer carried the brand (the Google was wrong). We Ubered to the restaurant and still beat my parents there.
The restaurant as actually very nice, but not too nice for Hallie. They also gave us a table kind of out of the way in a corner, so that was good. Also, it was 7:30, so very few people were eating dinner yet in Paris.
I started with a French Martini, my favorite cocktail, which seemed appropriate for Paris (no idea if this is actually a French drink). We got Hallie a pizza, which she are just a tiny bit of but was delicious, and Tzvi got the butternut squash soup with mushrooms, which he thought was really incredible and had a really defined flavors. For mains, I got the simply grilled salmon with miso mustard sauce, and Tzvi got the cod with some sort of tomato sauce and basil mashed potatoes. He liked his dish, but the basil mashed potatoes were incredible – somehow they infused the mashed potatoes with really strong basil flavor. We also got brussels sprouts with shallots and broccoli rabe, both of which were delicious. For desserts my mother got a chestnut soufflé, which was interesting, Tzvi got a mille-crepe cake which was interesting and tasty but too creamy, and Hallie had vanilla ice cream.
Hallie spent most of the meal watching Toy Story on her tablet, but actually did very well and we were all able to have a very pleasant meal. After dinner we Ubered back to the hotel and went to sleep.
Not a terrible day.
Paris. Day 1. One Hundred Two Degrees Fahrenheit.
We woke up too early, finished packing, cleared out of the room and got into the van around 5:45 AM. The hotel had told us that we should leave at 5:30 AM because we needed at least 3 hours at the airport. We figured that was crazy and 2 hours would be enough. Before leaving we got our Dan to Go boxed breakfasts, which none of us really ate, except for Tzvi who ate a tuna sandwich at 6 AM.
We got to the airport at 10 to 7:00 and found a massive security line, worse than any of us had ever seen before. We waited for a while and did the security check while on line, but we just weren’t moving that much. Finally, at about 8:05, 5 minutes before our flight was to board, they started calling for people going to Paris and brought us up directly to the check-in counter.
After check-in we ran to our gate and were among the last to board, except then we got on the plane and had to sit waiting for another 20 minutes, so I was pretty upset that I didn’t get my Aroma coffee in the airport.
For this flight we flew El Al Economy Plus, which is basically economy but they give you a bottle of water at the beginning of the flight, and there’s a tiny bit more legroom. We had the bulkhead, so we actually were pretty comfortable, except that people kept using our row as a path between the two sides of the plane, which is something that would only happen on El Al.
Despite Hallie being ridiculously tired, things seemed to be going well. She wasn’t complaining too much and was watching Toy Story. And then, something happened. She started complaining more, and wouldn’t sit in her seat, and was going in and out while sitting on my lap. Then someone said the three magic words that mean an end to all happiness.
“She feels warm.”
Tzvi and I took Hallie to the bathroom and took her temperature (I’ll tell you taking a rectal temp in an airplane bathroom ain’t easy). One hundred.
I may have mentioned that my father, my mother and Avery have all been sick during this trip, but we were crossing our fingers hoping it didn’t spread to any of us. Well, our luck had run out, and just in time.
Let’s just say the rest of the flight was hell, both because Hallie was difficult and because now all we could do was dread what would happen when we land and over the next two days. And there were two hours left in the flight.
We finally landed in Paris and got off the plane, which was when Hallie decided it was the opportune moment to vomit all over Tzvi. It was awful, but also pretty funny.
After cleaning up, we got all of our luggage and headed to the exit, where we were met by a very nice driver with a sign that had our name on it. It was comical loading the van, because it was massive and we just barely fit. Hallie didn’t sleep on the ride, which was awesome.
We made it to our hotel, the Hyatt Paris Madeleine, which is in the 8th Arrondisement and right near the Madeleine church. As soon as we walked in the guest relations manager gave Hallie a unicorn balloon, which was very cute even if the legs did keep falling off. We quickly dropped our bags and then called an Uber to take us to the right bank.
Our first stop was Café de Flore, a famous café on the Boulevard Saint-Germain, where Tzvi and I ate on our honeymoon. It was pretty much unchanged from when we were last there. After puzzling over the French menus for a while and trying to make Google Translate work, we finally asked for English menus and ordered from a kindly older man who was probably working there when Picasso frequented the café.
Sitting at the table next to us was an older man who had a cup of coffee and was writing page after page in beautiful script using a fountain pen. He had earplugs in and the staff seemed hesitant to bother him. He also kept looking over at us, and we really couldn’t tell if it was because Hallie was disturbing his concentration, or because he was writing about us. At one point a waiter came over to shake his hand and then apologized for bothering him. We think he was probably some famous French author, but I guess we’ll never know. If you recognize the man below, let us know.
Anyway, for our lunch I ordered egg whites, which came in a tiny bowl, and Tzvi ordered a mushroom omelet. We all got cappuccinos, Hallie had a hot chocolate, and my mother ordered a cheese plate. My father got a vegetable omelet and we had to call over a manager to translate that he didn’t want cucumbers, because he was concerned someone would put cucumbers in an omelet. What he didn’t ask about was olives (which he hates), so he had about two bites of his heavily olived vegetable omelet, and spent the rest of the meal eating basket after basket of bread. I think they refilled us five times.
After lunch we put Hallie in the stroller and she fell asleep pretty fast. Then we walked about 15 minutes to Angelina, a famous old pastry shop (I think there are actually multiple locations, and we did not visit the original). At Angelina we got macarons, sables and hot chocolate. All were delicious. Also, the shop itself was beautiful. It’s amazing how everything here is so pretty. They’re selling pastries, but they could’ve been selling diamonds.
From there we called an Uber to take us to one of the few pharmacies that was open in Paris on a Sunday (because apparently everything is closed on Sundays) so we could buy children’s motrin, because the one we brought with us spilled in Hallie’s suitcase and we didn’t think to buy another one in Israel because who would’ve thought that we would actually need it. Once we got that we walked another 10 minutes to the Eiffel Tower. There were timed tickets, and we were late, and Tzvi was all worried, and Hallie was kind of being annoying in the stroller, so we don’t actually have a good photo of the three of us in front of the Eifel Tower. Instead we have these which actually aren’t as terrible as we originally thought.
Once we got to the Eifel Tower it actually took us ten minutes to get to the entrance to the elevator, where we found out that the top deck was closed due to wind. Hallie had been very excited for months about her trip to Paris and kept talking about how she was going to the top of the Eifel Tower. We visited the lower observation deck. She thinks she went to the top. Good enough.
The elevator to go up is very cool and more like a tram that you would take up the side of an angled mountain. The views are amazing, but once again, this is the best family photo we could get, because we had to take turns going up to the higher level of the lower observation deck, because my parents had to stay below to watch the stroller.
After the Eiffel Tower my parents went back to their hotel to get ready for dinner and the three of us went across the street to a carousel that Hallie was actually able to spot from the top of the tower (“I want to go to the horsies!”). She went around once and loved it. Watching her on there you’d never know she was sick. When she was done we waited a few minutes to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle at 7 PM and then got an Uber back to the hotel.
Our room is a junior suite, with a king sized bed and a sofa that opens to at least a queen. It’s fairly spacious with really high ceilings and windows that open out onto the street with just enough space for one person to stand outside. The bathroom is also nice with a big tub, a separate shower and a toilet room, though for some reason the doors to the shower and toilet close ridiculously loud.
Once back, Hallie said she wanted pizza so we ordered one from room service, as well as some fruit. Then we took her temperature again and it was up to 102 degrees, so that was pretty awesome. I have to say, the day could’ve been a lot worse. Despite the sickness we still did basically everything we had planned. Of course the pizza arrived and Hallie wouldn’t touch it. She decided she didn’t like it without even trying it. Tzvi and I ate half of it though – it was actually pretty good – and then my parents came back from dinner, my mother came to watch Hallie, and Tzvi and I left for our own dinner.
That’s right. A 102 degree fever wasn’t stopping us from going out to dinner. We took an Uber to Kavod, a kosher restaurant about 10 minutes from our hotel. When we got to the restaurant we found guards armed with M16s outside; we later found out that they were guarding the Israeli embassy across the street. We were exhausted, and pretty full, but we were getting our one meal alone of the trip.
The restaurant was pretty nice with modern décor and had a pretty good crowd for 9:30 PM on a Sunday night. It seemed to be mostly French Jews with one American family. Our waiter, who we think was probably the owner, talked Tzvi into trying the foie gras. He had never had it and started asking questions, and the waiter told him since he is in France he has to try it and that he would teach Tzvi how to eat it properly. When I asked if it’s like a pate he said the French get very offended when you compare foie gras to pate. Oops. We also got a half bottle of French wine (I think it was a beaujolais), because, as our waiter told us, “you are in France, why not take something local?”
For an appetizer, I had a “chicken bruschetta,” which was basically like a chicken sandwich. It was all very good, but it was just so much food. Tzvi got his foie gras and the waiter explained that to eat it you first have to cut a slice with the fork facing the end of the piece of foie gras, and then you put the entire slice on the bread – you never spread it. You spread pate, but not foie gras. Then you put the jelly on top (he had like a pomegranate jelly type thing). We both tried it. Tzvi loved it and finished the whole plate. I thought it was weird. It almost tasted like peanut butter and jelly.
For our mains I had the veal short rib and Tzvi had a veal chop, because the waiter told us “in France we do egel differently than in Israel.” Both were very good. Mine came with cauliflower that had been pureed and then deep fried. Really interesting and tasty.
(there’s a veal chop hidden under there)
We were so stuffed so we skipped dessert. I think we’ve just had too much meat on this trip. It was actually difficult getting the veal down, but don’t worry, Tzvi finished his entire chop. When we were done we spoke to the waiter for a little while about Jewish life in France. We started talking because he came over to say while we are in Paris, don’t wear “that” so much (pointing to Tzvi’s kippa). He basically told us that there are anti-Semitic things that happen every day, but the Muslims are careful not to do such big attacks because they know the Jews will fight back. He said the Jews are not afraid, but they know that in 10-15 years there will be no more Jews in France. He said he’s already sent his kids away; he has one kid in Tel Aviv University and one in Montreal. It’s very sad.
After that we Ubered back to the hotel and went to sleep.
What a day.
